A blended malt bottled in memory of Martin McCabe, and the story behind a name nobody forgets.
Every blend has a story. This one starts in Canape Wines, with Andy behind the counter and a regular and good friend called Martin McCabe, who commanded one of the largest tick books (store credit) in the country.
Where the phrase came from
One night whilst helping the owner refurb the shop, Andy and Martin were laying an old reclaimed floor. At one point around 4am, Andy attempted to critique an element of Martin's workmanship. Martin replied in disagreement of Andy's assessment with the immortal words, "Yer Aunt Fanny's Cat's Arsehole."
It became one of those phrases that just stuck around the way the best ones do — dropped into conversation at exactly the wrong moment, usually followed by someone laughing far too hard at something that, written down, makes no sense at all.
Who Martin was
Martin was one of life's gentlemen, a humble, funny, and caring man. Once upon a time the youngest publican in Scotland, a lover of the hills and nature— dad to a brood of kids scattered from Bellshill all the way down to Nottingham, and by all accounts one of the most committed McEwan's Export drinkers Scotland has ever produced. He passed away, but the phrase he left behind became something of a Whisky Blender institution.
The whisky that carries his name
So when it came to naming our oldest consistent blend, there was really only one option. YAFCA — Yer Aunt Fanny's Cat's Arsehole — has been with us since 2012 now, and it's bottled in Martin's memory. Pale straw, fast legs, wet grass and liquorice on the nose, green apples and lime on the palate. Properly good stuff, named after properly daft words said by a properly good man.
It's done us proud, too. At the 2016 Manchester Whisky Festival, YAFCA took gold for Dram of the Day, and our stand took gold for Stand of the Day.
How to drink it
Pour yourself a dram, or — if you're feeling adventurous — try it the way we sometimes do: one part YAFCA to three parts sweet tea over ice. Either way, raise it to Martin.
Yer Aunt Fanny's is still bottled in Martin's memory, and still on the shelf. Or blend one of your own in the Lab and name it after someone who deserves it.